


Dragons

by SooperSara



Series: Zutara Week Throwbacks [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Dragons, F/M, One Shot, Podfic, Post-Canon, Zutara Week Throwbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 07:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24347056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SooperSara/pseuds/SooperSara
Summary: Zuko and Katara revive a forgotten Fire Nation tradition to solidify their engagement.Based on the Day 1 prompt from Zutara Week 2016: DragonsPrompt #57
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zutara Week Throwbacks [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719949
Comments: 30
Kudos: 270
Collections: Zutara Week Throwbacks





	Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> ####  [▶ Podfic](https://drive.google.com/file/d/122k3orynXHEo10bxA5fLGV-XGIaJvru_/view?usp=sharing)

"Come on, Zuko. I'm sure this will be fine. Druk loves me."

Zuko let out a gusty sigh. He should have known better than to let Katara waste her time digging through the royal archives. Little good had ever come from his family, even before Sozin's time.

"That's different." He watched the flame in his hand rise and fall in time with his breathing. Steadier than the last time he was here, steadier and brighter and more fluid, more alive. "Druk thinks you're his mother."

"Or maybe I just have a way with dragons. You don't know."

"All I'm saying is that you don't have to go through with this. There's a reason why my family stopped asking Ran and Shaw for approval before marriage."

"And all _I'm_ saying is that you can't change my mind." Katara paused long enough to cup her free hand around his scarred cheek, and gave him a dazzling smile. "Nice try, though."

Zuko groaned as she marched on ahead. "You know you don't have to prove anything," he called after her.

"I'm not _trying_ to prove anything," she called back.

Zuko rolled his eyes and took the steps two at a time until he caught up with her. In the pale light of predawn, her hovering tendril of water gave off enough light that he could almost convince himself that it was a flame.

Almost.

The records had been a little unclear about what the dragons expected in this situation—firebenders seeking instruction had to bring an offering from the eternal flame, he knew that from experience, but marriage blessings? No matter how hard they looked, neither of them had been able to find the specifics of the old ritual.

But Katara wasn't a firebender anyway, and she insisted that a gift of water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole was just as good as a piece of the eternal flame.

It wasn't that Zuko _disagreed_ necessarily. Katara was usually right about things like this. But they weren't here for lessons, and even Druk was unpredictable. Ran and Shaw— _they_ had roasted people alive. Including a few generations of Zuko's ancestors. He couldn't decide whether he was glad that information had made it into the old royal scrolls or not.

"You remember everything we worked on?"

Katara pursed her lips. "Zuko. Master waterbender, remember? Best in the world? Of course I remember." She smiled and bumped him with her shoulder. "Hey. You went ice dodging for me. And did the midwinter spirit vigil. I can handle this."

"It's not you I'm worried about," Zuko muttered.

As they climbed higher, the sticky summer air gave way to the chill of the sky, and Katara's step lightened despite the thinner air. She thrived on this.

Zuko trailed along beside her, wordless as the valley fell away beneath them, the remains of the Sun Warrior's ancient city shrinking to doll-like proportions. They crested the stairs together and stepped onto the platform at the same instant.

Katara paused, the early morning light casting a silvery sheen over her face as she looked back down the way they'd come. Her gaze turned back to Zuko.

"This is it," she said, her tone a little breathless, her eyes bright. Her orb of water twisted itself into a spiral before she shaped it back into an approximation of a flame.

Zuko nodded, drawing a steadying breath. "This is it," he agreed.

"Hundreds of generations before us—" She turned on the spot, her loose curls catching the breeze. "It's like I can still feel them here." She turned back to Zuko. "It's so beautiful."

He nodded again and tried not to stare _too_ hard at her. The scenery was nothing in comparison with her. He pulled his eyes away and they landed on the faint, smoky marks that years— _centuries_ —of rain had yet to wash away from the ornate platform. That wasn't entirely helpful. Seeing ancient evidence of the dragons' wrath was a far less pleasant form of distraction.

Zuko pointed to a mark on the ground. "You stand there." He crossed the platform to the matching symbol and gave a silent prayer to all the spirits he knew that they hadn't been too far off in their guesses about the ritual. "The second the sun touches the horizon—"

She nodded and settled into her stance. A mischievous smile flashed across her face. "Sure you're ready for this, Fire Lord?"

He felt the corner of his mouth twitch despite his best effort to keep it still. "More ready than you, Master. Remember I've done this before."

Katara gave him another quick smile before she turned her concentration back to her water.

Zuko broadened his stance and dragged his attention back to the flame in his hand, to the tiny, endless pulse that echoed his own. He exhaled, slow and steady, and felt the flame swell in response.

He was ready.

He felt the sun reach the horizon before he saw it, and the flame in his hand blossomed into a burning globe. Across the platform, Katara mirrored him, shaping her water into a shimmering sphere.

_Inhale._ He stepped forward, his back turned toward the center of the platform, and pulled the flames in near his chest. _Exhale._ Another step, and he pushed the flames up and out.

This wasn't firebending in the usual way. This was nothing like what his childhood tutors, or Uncle, or even the dragons themselves had taught him. It couldn't be. Water didn't behave like fire, and fire didn't behave like water. But there was a point of balance between the two, a point where the two disciplines intersected, where Katara's water would flicker and dance along with his flames, where his fire would flow, smooth and steady, along with her water. It was a well-practiced dance by now, and the movements came as naturally as breathing.

When they were halfway through the sequence, there was a rumbling from the caverns at either end of the platform, a rumbling that cut straight through to his core. He didn't flinch, and across the platform, he caught a glimpse of Katara, equally unshaken. Despite the approach of the ancient dragons, it felt like their weeks of practice at the palace, moving in a careful sequence around the edges of the gardens while Druk pranced between them, rearing up and trying to catch stray water droplets and sparks on his forked tongue.

They worked their way clear around the rim of the circular platform, then inward until they met in the center and came to a stop. Zuko twisted his flame into the shape of a dragon, and Katara did the same. Together, they sent both dragon-shapes whirling in an upward spiral, higher and higher until they reached the limits of their bending and both dragons broke apart simultaneously.

Katara beamed up at him, her hair lightly mussed by the wind, and a wide, breathless smile on her face. For a moment, Zuko forgot Ran and Shaw. He wanted to kiss Katara, to cradle her face in his hands and lean in so close that he could feel the soft warmth radiating from her face. He wanted to be so close that he could bask in the glow of her exhilaration.

Instead, Zuko smiled back, and with a small nod, they both turned outward, bowing low to the dragons. Then they faced one another once again and bowed a second time.

For a long moment, everything was silent. The dragons waited, watching them from the bridges that led back to their caverns. Even the wind seemed to still.

Drawing a deep breath, Zuko closed his eyes. Calm settled over him, and he found Katara's hand. Ran and Shaw were about to make their decision, but they were together. That was what mattered. As long as they were together, nothing could go _too_ wrong.

The silence shattered with a roar from both sides, and Zuko opened his eyes to see the dragons—both of them—bearing down of the platform. Zuko stepped instinctively closer to Katara, bracing himself to shield her. She stepped closer too, and her free hand raised ever so slightly, ready to pull a deluge straight from the air.

But as the dragons came closer, they never attacked. They never threatened to. Instead, they crawled around the rim of the platform, massive claws scraping against the stone, eyeing the two of them and tasting the air.

The blue dragon was the first to break out of the circle and approach. It kept its head low, gliding just a few feet over the ground until it was near enough to sniff Katara's hem. Its tongue flicked out the same way Druk's did when he was curious.

Zuko tightened his grip on Katara's hand, and she squeezed back. Neither of them wavered as the blue dragon continued its investigation, as the red dragon slowly crept forward to join its curious mate. For a while, they both circled close, inspecting Zuko and Katara from every possible angle.

Then, as the sun rose higher in the sky and the shadows began to shrink, both dragons halted their circling and came to stand side by side in front of Zuko and Katara.

Katara moved first, a small step forward with her free hand outstretched.

The blue dragon bowed its head just enough to allow Katara's hand to rest on its snout.

"I'm not a firebender," she said quietly. "I never will be. And I know I'm not the person the rest of the world had in mind to rule beside Zuko."

The blue dragon puffed out a gust of hot, moist air, and its enormous golden eyes bored straight into her.

"But a long time ago, you decided that Zuko was worthy of knowing your secrets. Now he's chosen me, and I've chosen him. I hope you can trust our choice enough to give me your blessing."

Ran and Shaw looked at one another as though conferring, and Zuko kept his grip on Katara's hand firm. He would fight for her if he needed to. He would use his body as a shield—he'd done it before, and he'd do it a thousand more times. He had chosen Katara. He would always choose her.

In tandem, both dragons turned their faces to the sky and unleashed a roar of what sounded like triumph. Plumes of flame erupted from their mouths, but it was nothing like the first time Zuko had faced them—this time, the flames from each dragon remained distinct, two ropes of colored fire rotating around one another, whirling outward until they nearly eclipsed the sky.

When the flames finally dispersed, Zuko glanced down at Katara. She was smiling, eyes bright. He was smiling too, he realized. He couldn't help it.

Ran and Shaw lowered their heads again and lumbered back toward their respective caves, and Zuko felt a weight lift off his shoulders.

Wide-eyed, Katara watched until the dragons were gone, then laughed and threw her arms around him. "It worked! Just wait until your council hears about this!"

A startled laugh burst out of Zuko too as he returned her embrace. "I thought you weren't trying to prove anything to them."

Katara pulled back just far enough to meet his eyes. The glow of the morning sun turned her skin to copper and glinted off the beads in her hair—both blue and gold now. "I _wasn't._ But if you think I'm not going to gloat, you don't know me very well."

He let his arms tighten around her and leaned his cheek down against the top of her head. "I can't wait to see their faces."

Katara pulled away and found his hand. "Come on, Fire Lord. Let's go tell them the bad news." Even without seeing her face, he could hear the smile in her voice. "They're stuck with me now."

"You're going to be the best thing that ever happened to the Fire Nation," he told her. When she looked back over her shoulder, he couldn't help but smile again. "You already are."

**Author's Note:**

> So this is another request that I've been working on for literal _months,_ and because of reasons, I decided I had to post it today. ~~Okay, it may have something to do with the fact that this makes the TENTH Sunday in a row that I've posted a fic update of some kind, and I wanted to be able to gloat about it.~~ An anon on Tumblr asked me to write for either "Dragons" or "Bloodbending" from [ this prompt list](https://soopersara.tumblr.com/post/189411112409/zutara-week-throwbacks), and while my immediate impulse was to do "Bloodbending", I started thinking about the possibility of forgotten Fire Nation traditions being revived after the war, and having the dragons bless an international royal marriage just _fit._
> 
> "Dragons" was originally the prompt for Day 1 of Zutara Week 2016. I had actually watched ATLA all the way through two years before that point and was _definitely_ in the Zutara camp, but I was fresh out of college, using my music education degree (or _not_ using it) by teaching two-year-olds at a daycare center, and still about two years away from actually joining the fandom. I'm late, but I made it here!
> 
> Now I'm going to get back to work on A Tale of Ice and Smoke (and slowly keep chipping away at my list of throwback prompts)! Comments and kudos are always appreciated!


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